GPhA RESPONDS TO "MISLEADING"
TV INFORMATION ON GENERIC DRUGS

Published Online: Saturday, September 1, 2007

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The public has been misled
about the safety and
equivalence of generic medicines
by a number of ?misstatements?
broadcast recently
on NBC TV?s early-morning Today Show, officials at
the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) charged.
GPhA released a statement correcting a number of the televised
errors, stressing that ?all consumers should know
that?generic medicines must contain the identical amount
of active ingredient as the brand? product.

In an effort to ?set the record straight,? the association
stressed that ?the [FDA] has repeatedly and officially stated
that generic, or therapeutically equivalent, drugs can be substituted
with the full expectation by the patient and the doctor
that they will have the same clinical effect and safety
profile as the innovator drug.?

GPhA encouraged patients with questions to ?get the
complete facts about generics by asking their doctors and
pharmacists and by visiting the FDA?s Web site? or the association?s
own Web site, www.GPhA.org.